Dark Knight Rises

Unfortunately, tragedies happen. But we must rise again and find a way to grow.

There are a lot of reasons that Christopher Nolan’s third Batman movie is called The Dark Knight Rises, though most of them involve spoilers.

For example, at the beginning of the movie, Batman is forced to rise back up out of retirement. (If this spoils anything for anybody, one has to wonder what they expect from a Batman movie in the first place.) But yes, he was retired. These rich people, they can afford to retire early.

Batman has to rise up against the fear that has kept him in the shadows his entire life.

But he’d accomplished what he’d set out to do. Gotham is safe. He completed his life’s work, and is ready for old age. He grows a little beard, walks around with a cane (an actual cane. Also Michael Caine.) he has bad knees from years of jumping off rooftops, and he wants to trade in his batmobile for a rascal that goes 800 miles per hour. But when a new villain named Bane shows his face in Gotham (Well, part of his face. You know how it is in Gotham), he has to rise up and reluctantly put on the cowl again.

But first he has to shave that soul patch, or everyone will know it’s him.

As a villain, Bane is physically stronger than Batman. He was trained by the same guy who trained Batman, and he can’t be psychologically beaten either, because whatever Batman can dish out, Bane has had worse. Bane isn’t scared of Batman’s growl either, having some voice issues himself. He is basically an evil Batman.

So there’s a fight, and Evil Batman defeats “One More Case Before Retirement” Batman, even going as far as to break the latter’s back, and brings him to the prison in which Bane has spent most of his life – a literal hole in the ground that is nevertheless the best place to go to get your back fixed. If I ever hurt my back, I’m going to try to find that prison. They have a horrible dental plan, though. Bane definitely needs to find a new orthodontist.

So Batman has to heal, retrain himself, and try to be the second person ever to climb out of the hole at the top of the prison. But to do so, he has to rise up against the fear that has kept him in the shadows his entire life.

Yes, he already rose at the beginning of the movie. But it turns out he rose wrong. He put on the scowl, but he wasn’t Batman. Rising from the ashes doesn’t just mean getting dressed and getting out of the house. It turns out that he hadn’t just retired from being Batman, he’d given up on being Bruce Wayne as well. For eight years, he was holed up in his mansion, in a prison of his own mind, mourning the loss of his girlfriend, and not only never getting out of the house, but having sheets draped over the furniture in the house as well. So when he did take up the mantle again, he didn’t do so to win, because even if he won, what was there to get back to? So he goes up against Bane with none of his officially licensed toys, and gets his back handed to him.

Alfred didn’t want him back in the game. If the streets are safe, Alfred feels, you can rise up past the tragedy and get back to living your life. Just because you have no reason to be Batman anymore doesn’t mean you can’t be Bruce Wayne either.

“You only see one end to your journey,” he says. “Sometimes, a man rises from the darkness.”

“What about her?” he all but asks in his best Jewish mother voice. “She’s nice. Isn’t she your age?”

“She’s a villain, Ma.”

The Dark Knight Rises is actually a very unique movie, in that about halfway through, the bad guy wins. Most movies are about preventing the bad guy from enacting his plan, but in this movie, Bane goes through with it. He’s broken the Batman, captured the city, activated a nuke, and trapped the cops underground. The bad guy actually wins, and only halfway through the movie. Batman does achieve victory in the end, but only because the movie is 3 hours long. They had to take it into overtime for the good guy to win. But in other words, the movie is about winning AFTER the bad guy has won. The tragedy has occurred, you can’t prevent it anymore, and the question is what you do NEXT.

King Solomon said in Proverbs, “The righteous man falls seven times, but he gets back up.” Everyone falls, even the righteous. The question is whether you have what it takes to get back up. Do you let failure drag you down permanently? Do you curl up into a ball and wait until you die as well?

“Why do we fall?” Bruce’s father asks him rhetorically, in Batman Begins. “So we can get back up.” We might view falling as a tragedy, but the prospect of picking ourselves up is the entire reason we fall. Most of the time, we won’t pick ourselves up if we don’t fall first.

Nobody wants a tragedy, and no one wants hard times. But at the end of the day, the strongest people in the world are the ones who’ve overcome difficulties. Bane is stronger than Batman, because, as he says, “You adopted the darkness. I was forged in the darkness.” Bane is stronger because he’s had to climb farther. And unless Batman comes from the same hole in the ground, he’ll never beat Bane.” The bigger the weights that you use, the stronger you are in the end.

Who’s a better all-around person, you or Paris Hilton? I know the answer to that question, and I don’t even know you.

Look at the people who grow up rich and have everything in the world. Paris Hilton, for example. Who’s a better all-around person, you or her? I know the answer to that question, and I don’t even know you. But why is that true? She’s never wanted for anything a day in her life. She has everything. What do you have that she doesn’t have? And the answer is, NOT EVERYTHING.

You’ve had problems. You’ve had inconveniences, annoying situations, and even some really tough times. But how many traits that you like about yourself started as resolutions that you made because of those times?

If you squash a baseball mitt under a piece of furniture, it works better. If you heat up a piece of meat before you eat it, it definitely tastes better. It’s no picnic for the meat, but in the general scheme of things, it’s an improvement. You might be upset that you broke your arm, but for the rest of your life, you’re going to know how to make your bed with one hand.

Tragedies happen. Suffering happens. The Jewish people have experienced more suffering on a routine basis than any other nation – Holocausts, progroms, expulsions, and we even lost two temples. But we’re also the longest-lasting nation. Why is that?

On Tisha B’Av, we sit on the floor in mourning for all of those things. But then in the afternoon, we rise. It’s important to remember the tragedy from time to time, but we can’t wallow in it every day forever. We remember it, learn from it, and use it to motivate us to be better. Tish B’av is only one day per year. But what about the rest of the year?

Rising up from a tragedy doesn’t mean that we forget the tragedy or those we lost. It just means we don’t wallow in it. We rise, we stand back up, we find a way to grow from it, and through that growth, we carry the memory with us.

We’ve had two temples destroyed. Our backs were broken. But it’s not over yet. We’ve just gone into overtime.

When I started to read this D'var Tora, I thought, "Batman?!? Get real man!
But, in the overtime, it makes a point.
A strong point.
And, it makes it Well.
/Kol HaKaw-vode/!
(And, no, that does NOT mean, "All the Liver.")

(4)
Ben B,
July 31, 2012 5:14 PM

Incredible

What a fantastic article. I saw batman a few days ago and could barely follow the story. What you have said actually made the movie make more sense to me. And you put a remarkable amount if Judaism in it. Thanks for the great article!

(3)
Yehuda,
July 31, 2012 4:46 PM

A waste of time

Excellent points. What fools we are when we think others have everything and are jealous of them. We have to learn that G-d gives us what we need and everyone needs different things. Having arguments over money or who is more important than whom or differing opinions that can't be worked out in a social forum is just asking for the kind of terrors that await Gotham. Our biggest and best weapon is our ability to stand together and show G-d our unity. "Ve'ahavta Leraiacha Komocha". People sit and learn Torah all their lives, but if they don't learn to treat their neighbors with respect, it's all pointless. My advice, "Quit your day job", because you're wasting your time. I realize that you won't publish this, because it's an embarrassment to us, but I hope the message will be taken to heart. Unity. The Siyum Hashas is the perfect forum to show a united front. Anyone that doesn't go to the siyum because of machlokes will have to one day stand before Hakodosh Boruch Hu and answer for it. All your efforts at bringing Torah into the world are for naught if you don't accept that others have differing opinions and accepting that you won't always agree, But the one thing we can agree upon is our desire to serve Hakodosh Borruch Hu in the best way we can. With Achdus. All the Best

(2)
Rhonda Yegergarn,
July 31, 2012 2:05 PM

Uplifting!

A fantastic, uplifting article about having the will to move ahead when times drag you down. Thank you!!!!

(1)
Lynn Grossman,
July 31, 2012 1:34 PM

Thank You

Thank you. The Batman analogy was very inspirational and I will remember it the next time something bad happens to me or someone I love...

This year during Chanukah I will be on a wilderness survival trip, and it will be very difficult to properly celebrate the holiday. I certainty won't be able to bring along a Menorah.

So if I am going to celebrate only one day of Chanukah, which is the most significant?

The Aish Rabbi Replies:

If a person can only celebrate one day of Chanukah, he should celebrate the first day.

This is similar to a case where a person is in prison, and the authorities agree to permit him to go to synagogue one day. The law is that he should go at the first opportunity, and not wait for a more important day like the High Holidays.

The reason is because one should not allow the opportunity of a mitzvah to pass. Moreover, it is quite conceivable that circumstances will later change and allow for additional observance. Therefore, we do not let the first chance pass. (Sources: Code of Jewish Law OC 90, Mishnah Berurah 28.)

As an important aside, Chanukah candles must be lit in (or at the entrance to) a home rather than out of doors. Thus, you should not light in actual "wilderness," but only after you've pitched your tent for the night.

There may be another reason why the first night is the one to focus on. Chanukah is celebrated for eight days to commemorate the one-day supply of oil that miraculously burned for eight days. But if you think about it, since there was enough oil to burn naturally for one night, nothing miraculous happened on that first night! So why shouldn't Chanukah be just seven days?!

There are many wonderful answers given to this question, highlighting the special aspect of the first day. Here are a few:

1) True, the miracle of the oil did not begin until the second day, and lasted for only seven days. But the Sages designated the first day of Chanukah in commemoration of the miraculous military victory.

2) Having returned to the Temple and found it in shambles, the Jews had no logical reason to think they would find any pure oil. The fact that the Maccabees didn't give up hope, and then actually found any pure oil at all, is in itself a miracle.

3) The Sages chose Chanukah, a festival that revolves around oil's ability to burn, as the time to teach the fundamental truth that even so-called "natural" events take place only because God wants them to.

The Talmudic Sage Rabbi Chanina Ben Dosa expressed this truth in explaining a miracle that occurred in his own home. Once, his daughter realized that she had lit the Shabbos candles with vinegar instead of oil. Rabbi Chanina calmed her, saying, "Why are you concerned! The One Who commanded oil to burn, can also command vinegar to burn!" The Talmud goes on to say that those Shabbos lights burned bright for many hours (Taanit 25a).

To drive this truth home, the Sages decreed that Chanukah be observed for eight days: The last seven to commemorate the miracle of the Menorah, and the first to remind us that even the “normal” burning of oil is only in obedience to God's wish.

In closing, I'm not sure what's stopping you from celebrating more than one day? At a minimum, you can light one candle sometime during the evening, and that fulfills the mitzvah of Chanukah - no “official Menorah” necessary. With so much joy to be had, why limit yourself to one night only?!

In 165 BCE, the Maccabees defeated the Greek army and rededicated the Holy Temple in Jerusalem. Finding only one jar of pure oil, they lit the Menorah, which miraculously burned for eight days. Also on this day -- 1,100 years earlier -- Moses and the Jewish people completed construction of the Tabernacle, the portable sanctuary that accompanied them during 40 years of wandering in the desert. The Tabernacle was not dedicated, however, for another three months; tradition says that the day of Kislev 25 was then "compensated" centuries later -- when the miracle of Chanukah occurred and the Temple was rededicated. Today, Jews around the world light a Chanukah menorah, to commemorate the miracle of the oil, and its message that continues to illuminate our lives today.

A person who utilizes suffering to arouse himself in spiritual matters will find consolation. He will recognize that even though the suffering was difficult for him, it nevertheless helped him for eternity.

When you see yourself growing spiritually through your suffering, you will even be able to feel joy because of that suffering.

They established these eight days of Chanukah to give thanks and praise to Your great Name(Siddur).

Jewish history is replete with miracles that transcend the miracle of the Menorah. Why is the latter so prominently celebrated while the others are relegated to relative obscurity?

Perhaps the reason is that most other miracles were Divinely initiated; i.e. God intervened to suspend the laws of nature in order to save His people from calamity.

The miracle of the Menorah was something different. Having defeated the Seleucid Greek invaders, the triumphant Jews entered the Sanctuary. There they found that they could light the Menorah for only one day, due to a lack of undefiled oil. Further, they had no chance of replenishing the supply for eight days. They did light the Menorah anyway, reasoning that it was best to do what was within their ability to do and to postpone worrying about the next day until such worry was appropriate. This decision elicited a Divine response and the Menorah stayed lit for that day and for seven more.

This miracle was thus initiated by the Jews themselves, and the incident was set down as a teaching for all future generations: concentrate your efforts on what you can do, and do it! Leave the rest to God.

While even our best and most sincere efforts do not necessarily bring about miracles, the teaching is nevertheless valid. Even the likelihood of failure in the future should not discourage us from any constructive action that we can take now.

Today I shall...

focus my attention on what it is that I can do now, and do it to the best of my ability.

With stories and insights,
Rabbi Twerski's new book Twerski on Machzor makes Rosh Hashanah prayers more meaningful. Click here to order...